Barcelona take on Manchester United in the 2017 International Champions Cup at the FedExField, Landover in the United States.
Barcelona
Barcelona got off to a great start in this pre-season competition, beating Italian champions Juventus in a hard-fought and close encounter. Two goals from Neymar was enough to give the Spanish side a 2-1 victory in front of 82,000+ fans in East Rutherford. They will be looking to do better this year than in previous ICC tournaments.
First taking part in 2015, they finished seventh in the North America & Europe section. They were part of the USA & Europe section again last year, where they won their first two matches before losing 4-0 to Liverpool at Wembley to finish fourth overall. This is the second of three ICC matches they will play, with the third coming against ‘El Clasico’ rivals Real Madrid.
Manchester United
Last season’s Europa League champions Manchester United are unbeaten after four pre-season matches in the United States.
Two friendly victories, over LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake, were warm-up matches before the ICC got underway. They started this competition with a 2-0 win over Manchester City and followed that up with a penalty shoot-out victory over Real Madrid, following a 1-1 draw.
United are looking for their second ICC title, after winning their first in 2014. In 2015, they came close but finished just one point off the top of the North America & Europe section. Last year, they gave the United States a miss and played in the China section instead. They lost 4-1 against Dortmund in the opener and then finished bottom of the three teams after their scheduled second match was cancelled.
Head to Head
The head to head information available between these two teams is only for competitive matches. In eleven previous competitive meetings, Barcelona have won four, four have finished level, and United have been victorious three times.
They have met once before in the International Champions Cup, back in 2015. That game was played at Levi’s Stadium in California, with United winning 3-1 after some late drama.
Betting Odds & Predictions
Barcelona are the favourites here, although we think United may surprise a few people by being victorious. The English side have played four games in the USA already and their players will be more match-fit than their opposition.
Sky Bet have priced the Spanish team as 10/11 favourites, with United at 13/5. For those punters who cannot separate them, the draw is priced at 14/5.
The Double Chance market gives punters the chance of picking two options, with Manchester United or Draw looking a solid option at odds of 5/6. Both Barcelona or Draw, and Barcelona or Manchester United are priced at 1/4.
United have conceded in three of their four pre-season games so far, whilst Barcelona also conceded in their previous match. With the amount of attacking talent on show, we must believe there will be plenty of goals.
So, if you don’t fancy trying to pick a winner, you can back Both Teams to Score at odds of 1/2. Over 2.5 Goals is priced at 4/7, and is another solid option. If you want, you can back Both teams to Score and Over 2.5 Goals at odds of 5/6.
Romelu Lukaku has already made a good start to his United career, scoring twice in the last three games, and looks a great option in the anytime scorer market at odds of 15/8. Neymar, who score twice against Juventus, also looks a good option at 7/4.
Top Betting Tip
With these being two closely matched teams, and United possibly having the edge due to playing more games, it’s hard for us to select a winner. Therefore, we have looked elsewhere for our top betting tip. That tip is Both Teams to Score, at odds of 1/2 with Ladbrokes.